Rep. Pence Inadvertently Admits Bush Tax Cuts Did Not Work

November 18, 2010 2:59 pm ET —
Matt Finkelstein

Today, Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) made a startling admission:
the Bush tax cuts did
not work. "I think it's fair to
say, if the current tax rates were enough to create jobs and generate economic
growth, we'd have a growing economy," he said. "It's not working now."

PENCE: Jim DeMint and I are
offering legislation on Capitol Hill today to say, look, let's make all the
current tax rates permanent, uh, and then let's start to work from there toward
putting in place the kind of policies that'll really get this economy moving
again. You know, I think it's fair to
say, if the current tax rates were enough to create jobs and generate economic
growth we'd have a growing economy. It's not working now. Let's at least give
some certainty there and then we'll fight for more tax relief.

Watch:

When Republicans pushed through the original Bush tax cuts,
which sunset at the end of the year, they made all sorts of lofty promises. They
boasted that the tax cuts would increase revenues, create jobs, and grow the
economy. As a depressing reminder of a different time, Sen. Mitch McConnell
(R-KY) actually argued that "the surplus will pick up" thanks to the
stimulative effect of the tax cuts.

So kudos to Pence for being honest. The only problem is that
he views the failure of the Bush tax cuts as a reason to double down on economic
policies that do not work. Not only does he want to spend $700 billion to
extend tax cuts for the wealthy — who economists
predict "will save the money rather than spend it" — but he wants to pass
additional tax cuts to boot.

Amazingly, Pence is absolutely certain that Republicans
already "won this
argument" about taxes. But the facts are stubborn, and they disagree.